Corporate Philanthropic Giving Research Articles

Global diversification, host-country environments, and corporate philanthropic giving: Evidence from Chinese multinational corporations

Previous studies suggest that multinational corporations (MNCs) are likely to participate in more philanthropic activities because these activities could facilitate their operation in host countries. Focusing on a sample of Chinese MNCs between 2006 and 2019, this study investigates whether more diversified firms have higher corporate philanthropic giving (CPG), and the moderating effect of host-country environments. The results indicate that there is not a significant relationship between firm's global diversification and CPG. Nonetheless, we find that a host country's cultural distance, institutional quality and country risk negatively moderate the global diversification–CPG relationship, while a host country's economic growth positively moderates this relationship. Our findings suggest that although global diversification increases the incentives for Chinese firms to engage in philanthropy, it also constrains on their involvement in such activities. Furthermore, the precise effect of global diversification on a firm's CPG is conditional on the environment of its host country, and the host country that has large cultural difference to home country, good institutional quality, high risk and bad economic prospect leads to decrease in MNCs' CPG. Our study provides new evidences for the determinants of CPG in MNCs from emerging markets.

Corporate Philanthropic Giving and Cost of Equity Capital: Evidence from Korea

This study examines the effect of corporate philanthropic giving on the cost of equity capital focusing on Korean firms. We find that corporate philanthropic giving increases the implied cost of equity capital. This positive association is more pronounced in low-cash-holding firms and non-chaebol firms with low cash holdings. Thus, our results support agency cost view of corporate donation and suggest that high equity risk premium associated with corporate donation is pronounced in financially constrained firms. From policy standpoint, regulators can consider expanding more detailed disclosure requirements regarding corporate philanthropy for more intense monitoring. For instance, regulators can require CEO and independent directors to disclose their affiliations with public interest foundations.

Board demographic diversity, institutional context and corporate philanthropic giving

Research findings generally suggest that board diversity has an effect on performance, be it social or financial, but there is uncertainty as to the strength and direction of the effect. In this study, we respond to two questions: (1) Do differences in the diversity of board demographic characteristics have an effect on Corporate Philanthropic Giving (CPG)? Does the institutional context affect such a relationship? We use a sample of all listed non-financial Chinese firms from 2010 to 2014. Our findings confirm that corporate giving is indeed related to gender, age, tenure, functional and foreign experience diversity. More importantly, the relationships are significantly moderated by the institutional context, as measured by the governance regime and the level of market development. This paper contributes convincing empirical evidence that within-board demographic diversity characteristics, controlled by board structural characteristics, have a clear effect on corporate giving, and that this effect is affected by the institutional context. This in turn should facilitate responding to a wider set of stakeholders’ needs and issues. Each of these findings is a contribution to theory and have important implications for research on corporate social responsibility, or corporate governance, and for managing board composition.

State ownership, institutional development, and corporate philanthropic giving: an integrated view of legitimacy–efficiency trade-offs

We explore the trade-offs between social legitimacy and economic efficiency in the context of corporate philanthropic giving (C.P.G.). C.P.G. is viewed as a cost to seek legitimacy, which also serves as a resource to seek efficiency. Using a longitudinal panel data set of Chinese publicly listed firms, we examine how state ownership and institutional development shape firms’ response to C.P.G., and the contingent role of firm visibility and political ties. State ownership enables firms to prioritise legitimacy over efficiency, whereas institutional development enables firms to emphasise efficiency over legitimacy. We also suggest that the positive effect of state ownership on C.P.G. increases for visible firms, and the negative effect of institutional development on C.P.G. increases for visible firms but decreases for politically connected firms. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

여성임원이 기부금 지출에 미치는 영향

여성임원이 기부금 지출에 미치는 영향

The Strength of Two Hands: Conflicting Stakeholder Pressures and Corporate Philanthropic Giving

ABSTRACTWe develop a stakeholder framework that examines how firms respond to the conflicting demands that arise from governments and investors in the context of corporate philanthropic giving. We argue that firms that experience such conflict exhibit a decoupling response in philanthropic giving. Furthermore, we identify the boundary conditions of the relationship between the conflicting pressures and the decoupling response. Drawing on stakeholder salience literature, we argue that this relationship will be weakened when CEOs perceive government demands as more salient (such as those with a communist ideology) and when CEOs are less sensitive to investor claims (such as those with fewer career concerns). We find empirical support for our arguments using a sample of 8,857 Chinese listed firms from 2006 to 2015. Our study contributes to the literature on stakeholder theory, decoupling, and corporate philanthropy.

The Effects of National Pension's Ownership on Corporate Philanthropic Giving

The Effects of National Pension's Ownership on Corporate Philanthropic Giving

Does Culture Matter for Corporate Philanthropic Giving?

ABSTRACTThis article explores cultural influence on corporate philanthropic giving, employing the case of merchant guilds culture in China and it further investigates the moderating effect of the types of corporate ownership. Our evidence suggests that merchant guilds culture can facilitate the extent and likelihood of corporate philanthropic giving, which is in accordance with the intuition that merchant guilds culture, which is rooted in Confucianism culture of China, has generally been associated with altruism. Consistent with our second prediction, we find that the relationship between merchant guilds culture and corporate philanthropic giving is more pronounced for privately owned firms than state-owned firms. These results are robust to several sensitivity checks, including using alternate variables to proxy for merchant guilds culture and corporate charitable giving, controlling for media coverage, and checking for potential endogeneity issues. This article provides a new perspective on the domestic culture through an empirical model that responds to a strong concern placed on merchant guilds culture and corporate philanthropic giving.

Indirect Reciprocity and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: How Visiting Officials Influence Investment in Privately Owned Chinese Firms

AbstractThis study examines how privately owned firms that are listed on Chinese stock exchanges and often surrounded by Buddhist or Taoist temples use money to bind themselves to officials who can mitigate their underinvestment problems. Philanthropic giving is a traditional way of achieving this task. Based on social‐exchange theory, we consider the potential for indirect reciprocity, in which visiting officials do favours for local businesses that do favours for other social actors. We analyse whether China’s Buddhist and Taoist cultures influence how philanthropic giving induces visiting officials to do favors. We also examine temple locations and the behaviours of privately owned firms listed on Chinese stock exchanges from 2001 to 2012 in an empirical study that provides strong support for our arguments. Results show that philanthropic giving initiates and amplifies indirect reciprocity between visiting officials and local businesses, thereby increasing corporate investment. The magnitudes of these effects depend on the magnitude of religious norms. Our study thus illuminates the influence of visiting officials on corporate investment.

CEO characteristics and corporate philanthropic giving in an emerging market: The case of China

The upper echelons theory proposes that organizational actions may reflect the values, experiences, and personalities of powerful actors within an organization. Drawing upon this theory, this research investigates how the characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs) affect corporate philanthropic giving (CPG) strategies in an emerging market. Using a unique data set consisting of CPG activities of publicly listed Chinese firms in response to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, this study uncovers relationships between CEOs' acquired characteristics (e.g., tenure, education, political connectedness, celebrity status) and different aspects of firm CPG strategies, including donation amount, timeliness and disclosure. We discuss the unique insights we gain by studying the upper echelons theory and corporate philanthropic giving in an emerging market context.

중국 상장기업의 소유·지배구조가 기부금 지출에 미치는 영향

중국 상장기업의 소유·지배구조가 기부금 지출에 미치는 영향

Community Norms and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: the Moderating Role of Women on BODs

This study examines how community norms such as local religious atmosphere and regional economic pressures affect corporate philanthropy. Using hand- collected data, we find that religious atmosphe...

Institutional Ownership and Corporate Philanthropic Giving in an Emerging Economy

ABSTRACTIn this study, we examine the effect of institutional ownership on corporate philanthropy in China, an emerging economy. Employing stakeholder identification and salience theory, we posit that institutional ownership positively influences corporate philanthropy, which varies for different types of institutional investors. We further argue that institutional ownership's influence is stronger when philanthropy is aligned with firm goals. Using data from Chinese publicly listed firms, we find a positive effect of institutional ownership on philanthropy, and this effect is stronger for domestic institutional owners when compared to foreign institutional owners, and long-term when compared to short-term institutional owners. We also find that the positive influence of institutional ownership is stronger in private firms and in regions with low institutional development – situations characterizing high alignment between philanthropy and firm goals. Our findings highlight the important role of institutional investors on corporate philanthropy decisions, which have implications for scholars studying and policy makers enacting corporate governance in emerging economies.

What's the Value in It? Corporate Philanthropic Giving under Uncertainty

This paper investigates whether and how corporate philanthropy (CP) is affected by a firm's perceived degree of environmental uncertainty in the context of a transition economy. Evidence from a nat...

Corporate Philanthropic Giving Practices in U.S. School Education

While corporate philanthropic giving to education is a controversial topic, how much money corporate foundations (CFs) provide to U.S. primary and secondary education, what policy and geographic areas CFs fund, who makes grant decisions within CFs, and corporate philanthropists’ reported giving motivations are unknown. A quantitative survey was used to gather data on 49 Fortune 500 CFs giving to primary and secondary U.S. education. Survey findings indicate that (a) the amount of money that these 49 CFs provide to primary and secondary U.S. education is 0.10 % of the 2010 education budget; (b) CFs report funding across different policy areas, avoiding school choice; (c) CFs favor funding cities or districts, individual schools, and individual students over state and national level funding; (d) the foundation president is more likely to make grantmaking decisions than the company CEO; and (e) corporate philanthropists report giving to primary and secondary U.S. education to build a strong workforce and improve community relations. Findings provide insight into the role of corporate philanthropy in primary and secondary U.S. education and have implications for policy.

Religion, the Nature of Ultimate Owner, and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: Evidence from China

Using a sample of Chinese listed firms for the period of 2004–2010, this study examines the impact of religion on corporate philanthropic giving. Based on hand-collected data of religion and corporate philanthropic giving, we provide strong and robust evidence that religion is significantly positively associated with Chinese listed firms’ philanthropic giving. This finding is consistent with the view that religiosity has remarkable effects on individual thinking and behavior, and can serve as social norms to influence corporate philanthropy. Moreover, religion and corporate philanthropic giving have a significantly weaker (less pronounced) positive association for state-owned enterprises than for non-state-owned enterprises. The results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests. Our results highlight religious influence on corporate philanthropic giving in contemporary China, an old traditional country with a typical communist economy.

Study on Relationship between Corporate Philanthropic Giving and Financial Performance - a Case Study from Public Company Listed on Shenzhen Main Board in 2010

Study on Relationship between Corporate Philanthropic Giving and Financial Performance - a Case Study from Public Company Listed on Shenzhen Main Board in 2010

Corporate Philanthropic Giving: Active Responsibility Or Passive Ingratiation? Evidence From Chinese Family-Controlled Listed Companies

This paper examines the impact of political connection on family-controlled listed firms philanthropic giving activities toward the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China, and stock price reactions to such activities. Using the 542 Chinese listed companies controlled by private owners as the sample, it was found that firms with political connection are more likely to donate. Besides, focusing on the 244 donating firms, it was found that there is a positive impact of the donation amount on stock price response. Whats more, the positive stock price reactions toward the donation announcement made by firms with political connection are not as strong as that of firms without such connection. Regression results indicate that although family-controlled firms with political connection are more likely to donate, their activities can not generate as much positive stock price effect as their no-political connection counterparts. These results reveal that both political interferences and market mechanisms have critical impact on corporate philanthropic behavior in China.

Corporate Philanthropic Giving, Advertising Intensity, and Industry Competition Level

This article examines whether the likelihood and amount of firm charitable giving in response to catastrophic events are related to firm advertising intensity, and whether industry competition level moderates this relationship. Using data on Chinese firms’ philanthropic response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, we find that firm advertising intensity is positively associated with both the probability and the amount of corporate giving. The results also indicate that this positive advertising intensity-philanthropic giving relationship is stronger in competitive industries, and firms in competitive industries are more likely to donate. This study thus provides evidence suggesting that even in the wake of catastrophic events, corporate philanthropic giving is strategic.

The Center out There: Pilgrim's Goal

The Center out There: Pilgrim's Goal